Reborn As A Villainous Cannon Fodder

Sorry for the delays, here is all the chapters.

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“Are you questioning my innocence?”

Inside the dungeon, the white dragon girl raised an eyebrow. Though her cheeks still held traces of a blush, she seized the moment to follow Yino’s lead and project some imperial authority.

Xinyao’s expression grew awkward. She averted her gaze, glanced at Yino to confirm he was unharmed, then sighed softly.

“I wouldn’t dare question Your Majesty. It’s just… Yino is the young master the Grand Tutor entrusted to my care. When I heard he was in trouble, I panicked and lost my composure.”

Ever the seasoned player, Xinyao managed to invoke the Grand Tutor’s name even while being humble.

Nina understood the implication perfectly. The Great Dragon Dynasty’s stability depended on Nina and the Grand Tutor’s imperial faction, plus the three powerful Grand Tutor mansions. Even as empress, Nina couldn’t easily move against the Grand Tutor families.

Moreover, compared to the Liu and Lin mansions, the He family was the court’s biggest royalist faction. As empress, why would she slap her own strongest supporters?

If not for the He family’s close ties to the royal house, Changli wouldn’t have turned a blind eye to Yino’s existence all these years. Nina still remembered when she first learned the He family was harboring a Phoenix clan orphan – her master had said helplessly that not everything in this world could be judged by bloodline alone.

Clearly, Xinyao was hoping Nina wouldn’t push things too far.

Nina sighed. Being on the throne really wasn’t freedom at all – the entire court seemed filled with people she couldn’t afford to offend.

“I understand what you’re saying. But for now, Miss Xinyao, please step outside. I have some private matters to discuss with Yino.”

Nina waved her hand, nodding for Xinyao to leave.

Xinyao hesitated, stealing glances at Yino, but finally stood and obediently withdrew.

Bang!

The heavy door slammed shut, and the room fell silent again.

Nina turned back around, wiping cold sweat from her brow, only to notice Yino doing the same like he’d just survived a disaster.

“Your aunt is seriously fierce!”

Nina couldn’t help complaining. Before Xinyao had recognized Nina’s identity, Nina had genuinely been scared by that murderous intent coming from behind. Xinyao had felt like an angry little whirlwind – not lethal, but her gaze showed way more protective instinct than any normal aunt should have.

“So what else did you want to discuss with me?”

After this whole ordeal, Yino was mentally exhausted and had no energy for small talk, cutting straight to the point.

Nina also refocused, turning her serious gaze back to Yino’s face.

“How much do you know about your own background?”

“Nothing. No one at the mansion ever told me…”

Yino shrugged, looking completely sincere. If anything, he was hoping Nina might reveal some secrets about his bloodline.

“You really don’t know anything?”

“Well, I know a little. I think I’m half-human, half-demon…”

“Mixed blood?”

Nina’s eyebrows rose, seeming puzzled by his answer. But then something occurred to her, and she nodded thoughtfully.

“And then? If you’re mixed demon blood, then that Miss Xinyao who claims to be your aunt should be your birth mother’s sister.”

“Maybe.”

“Theoretically, your mother should also be from the Ying clan?”

“I have no clue!”

Yino just sat there, clueless about everything, practically staring into space.

Nina looked at his sincere innocent expression and sighed in frustration.

“But here’s the strange thing – when I examined you just now, I discovered you actually have pure True Phoenix bloodline…”

Nina spoke seriously, not like she was joking with Yino. He froze, seeming to realize something that had been nagging at him.

“You mean I’m not actually blood-related to my aunt?”

“What do you think? Do you believe Spirit Phoenixes and Ancient Phoenixes are the same species?”

“…..”

Yino smacked his forehead, feeling like the sky was falling. He’d failed to live up to his years of calling himself a Fallen Immortal Top player. He’d always known Xinyao was Phoenix clan, but never realized Phoenix clan was actually a very broad term.

And honestly, Yino had never really cared about Xinyao’s specific species. Now that Nina had pointed it out, he finally understood the problem.

“Whatever. You were kept in the dark by your family too – you’re essentially an innocent victim… According to my master, you really have contributed to the righteous human cause. I shouldn’t hold prejudices against you because of your bloodline.”

Nina sighed, seeming to come to terms with her master’s teachings.

Ironically, Nina was young – when she was born, the Great Dragon Dynasty was at its peak, and the Dragon-Phoenix War from a thousand years ago had long since become textbook history. So Nina had rarely encountered Phoenix clan members.

All she knew from Dragon clan history books was that Phoenix clan were their mortal enemies, while the righteous Dragon clan had carried the banner and joined with human heroes to defeat the evil tyrannical Phoenix clan.

After that, Phoenix clan were driven from the Central Plains, retreating to the Western Region to hide and never again daring to offend the Great Dragon Dynasty territory.

In contrast, the Dragon clan won victory. To further consolidate their position among humans, the first generation of Dragon-human intermarriage produced the first little Dragon Emperor.

Now, Dragon-human marriages had continued for thousands of years. Back then, to win human support, both sides established succession rules requiring every Dragon Emperor to be of mixed Dragon-human blood to qualify for inheritance.

Through generations of history, Nina had benefited from her mixed heritage. She was the princess with the highest proportion of human blood among all the royal daughters.

Supposedly, when the old Dragon Emperor was dying, he specifically passed the throne to Nina because the other princesses didn’t have pure enough bloodlines. If Dragon blood was too dominant, it would be hard to convince the increasingly powerful immortal sects and Grand Tutor mansions in this age of spiritual revival.

So Nina herself was a product of compromise between the two races.

As a child, Nina had always thought she’d inherited the throne because her father favored his talented youngest daughter. Only after growing up and studying with her master did she truly understand she’d basically risen to power through political correctness.

Thinking about this, Nina found herself viewing Yino somewhat differently.

“Tell me, won’t you really consider coming to the Dragon Palace?”

With the atmosphere set, Nina couldn’t help bringing up the topic again.

Yino remained silent, his answer obvious.

But Nina wasn’t in a hurry. Instead, she reached to her waist and removed a protective pendant.

“Here, take this pendant. If you ever change your mind, you can come to the Dragon Palace anytime and use this pendant to see me… Of course, if you run into any trouble, you can also show this pendant as a get-out-of-jail-free card!”